Sonus Faber Electa Amator III vs. the Bowers and Wilkins 805 D4?

They were perfect for what I was looking for at the time. That move made a big jump in the right direction and exactly what I expected. I find that for me it is a target that I am zeroing in on… I better understand the target the closer I can get to it. So, I am always learning. Over the last fifteen years I don’t think I have gotten off the path as I have earlier… but been carefully navigating the line towards real fidelity to live music. It is a pursuit where you may never get there but you can get so close it doesn’t matter.

@ghdprentice 

I see. Thanks for the explanation.

Thanks for all the responses gentlemen!  In the meantime I went to a dealer in Ann Arbor, MI.  They didn’t have the SF Electa Amator III but they did have the SF Maxima Amator floorstander on demo. Same drivers as the EA III, but completely different cabinet and crossover.  After an hour I bought them.  All the beauty, texture and resolution of the Bowers and Wilkins 805 D4 without the hyper-detail.  They are more power hungry than the 805’s and are rated at 4 ohms.  Which is great as my Luxman L-590AxII does 60 WPC pure Class A into 4 ohms, and 165 WPC as it moves into Class A/B.  So Jeffrey, plenty of power.  The Maxima floorstander actually takes up less room than either bookshelf on stands, yet puts out a room-shaking low C which is 32.7 Hz.  And hands down, the most beautiful speaker I have ever seen!  

I doubt I'll ever be able to afford the Maximas and even if I could, their weight would hardly be practical but I'd love to hear them.  

The Maxima floorstander actually takes up less room than either bookshelf on stands, yet puts out a room-shaking low C which is 32.7 Hz.  And hands down, the most beautiful speaker I have ever seen!  

Congratulations -- I'd love to hear those !